Postcards from the Past is a series of postcard conversations based on family memories and imaginings about the ‘delicate’ children who, in 1948, travelled from Manchester and Salford to Switzerland to stay for three months with Swiss families to improve their health.
Inspired by the postcards that many Swiss hosts sent back to the children’s families in Manchester and Salford, Postcards illustrates how personal stories ripple across the generations in ways that connect us not only to the past but the future.
As a result of seeing the archive film which recorded the children’s return to Manchester, a group of ‘delicate’ children and their relatives are sharing reawakened family stories and memories in the form of postcards, which will be published on the website over the coming months, together with other writing and images that help tell their family stories.
‘Postcards’ is encouraging the ‘delicate’ children who are now in their seventies and eighties to:
tell their stories and celebrate their experiences
record their memories and share them with family members
It is also encouraging relatives and younger family members to think about these experiences:
by asking questions
putting themselves in their parents/grandparents/relative’s shoes
talking about how they would feel if similar experiences were to happen to them now.
Talking, listening, connecting: sharing family stories and becoming part of Manchester and Salford’s history